Tyler’s engraving of the Declaration was the first such decorative print with facsimiles of the signatures, based on the original manuscript. Tyler, a penmanship professor, copied the signatures by hand. The exactness of his work is particularly impressive given the limitations of copying them freehand. Richard Rush, son of the signer Benjamin Rush, and acting Secretary of State in 1817, gave his endorsement which is printed on the bottom left corner: “The foregoing copy of the Declaration of Independence has been collated with the original instrument and found correct. I have myself examined the signatures to each. Those executed by Mr. Tyler are curiously exact imitations, so much so, that it would be difficult, if not impossible, for the closest scrutiny to distinguish them, were it not for the hand of time, from the originals.” More importantly, Tyler also won the endorsement of the author of the Declaration, Thomas Jefferson, to whom his edition is dedicated.

The Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library of the University of Virginia provides background on the Tyler printing:

In 1815, the United States concluded its second war with Britain, the War of 1812, and American nationalism blossomed in its wake. Reinforcing this renewed patriotism, the passing of the signers’ generation created a passionate interest in all things associated with the nation’s founding. Several entrepreneurs sought to capitalize on this demand by rushing to produce the first facsimile printings of the Declaration of Independence—offering the American public its very first look at the document.

In 1818, Benjamin Owen Tyler produced the first facsimile of the Declaration - an elaborate, painstakingly hand-copied engraving.[1]

The book which Tyler used to take orders for his facsimile survives, in the Albert H. Small Declaration of Independence Collection. Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, John Quincy Adams, and other notables were among those who signed the book. We count roughly 1694 copies sold on paper, 40 on vellum, and 3 on silk and 3 on linen.

Tyler’s business rival John Binns had started more than a year earlier, but his monumental illustrated engraving was not published until the next year. The next and most desirable print of the Declaration came five years later, when W.J. Stone produced a truly exact facsimile of the entire document.

Condition

Margins trimmed close, just touching one or two flourishes; scattered insect damaged with five very small holes but text virtually complete; cleaned with some repaired tears and smoothed wrinkles; attractive overall.